Des and Doreen James appealed for anyone who spoke to their daughter on the day of her death - November 25 1995 - to contact them ahead of the reopening of an inquest into the tragedy, which will begin on February 1 next year.

At a pre-inquest hearing held at Woking Coroner’s Court in September, it was revealed that Pte James’ body had been exhumed for a new post-mortem examination and that this had recovered metallic fragments which would be subject to modern ballistics analysis.

“For my benefit, I would love to speak to somebody who had something to do with her on the day of her death or the day before,” Mrs James said.

“I just want to speak to someone who had some sort of inkling as to what happened. It would help to give us closure.

“She always kept a diary. I bought a five-year one for her, with a lock and a little key. We never saw that again. It never came back.”

Speaking about the potential verdict from the resumed inquest, Mr James said: “If it comes as suicide then it comes, and if it doesn’t it doesn’t. As long as it is evidence-led, I’m okay with that.”

Private Cheryl James was found dead at Deepcut barracks in 1995

Pte James’ family have already made an appeal for anyone with information about their daughter’s death to come forward, following the pre-inquest hearing in Woking.

Speaking outside the coroner's court, Mr James said the exhumation of his daughter’s body had been a "very distressing" time for the family.

“One thing I do feel very strongly about is that there are still a lot of people out there with evidence to give who have not come forward to this inquest,” he said at the time.

“The coroner gave an assurance today that the Official Secrets Act is highly unlikely to affect anyone with relevant information to give to him, and this affects both service and past service personnel.

“I’m therefore speaking directly to those people. This is the final opportunity. If you have anything to say or know anything at all about Cheryl’s death, this is the last opportunity to come forward.

“This is a personal appeal for anyone, both past and present service personnel, who know anything about Cheryl’s death.

"Help us to find out everything we possibly can about how Cheryl died. Help us, I hope, to avoid any possibility of Deepcut happening again.”

A previous inquest returned an open verdict, but this was quashed when the James family – with the backing of human rights advocate Liberty – were granted permission to seek a new inquest by then Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC, in March last year.

Pte James was aged 18 and undergoing initial training when she was found with a single fatal gunshot wound to the head at Princess Royal Barracks in Deepcut.

Three other young soldiers – 20-year-old Sean Benton, plus Geoff Gray and James Collinson, both 17 – also died from gunshot wounds at the same barracks between June 1995 and March 2002.